1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a funicular system of rail and running cable type, in particular for urban transport, of the type in which the vehicles are provided with movable jaw clamps for their automatic coupling to and release from said running cable. A funicular system known from the document EP-A-0 461 098.
In said system, in order to be able to brake and/or accelerate the vehicle in a region where its movement is to be interrupted, usually at an intermediate or non-intermediate station along its route, synchronized rollers are used. The clamp, which comprises two movable jaws, necessarily has to be released from the running cable when the synchronized rollers decelerate or accelerate the vehicle. However, because of inevitable shifting of the vehicle relative to the track due for example to the load or dynamic forces etc., the position of the clamp relative to the means which operate it in the sense of opening and closing it, and which are rigid with the track, is neither constant nor determinable with the required precision.
The result is that passage from traction by cable to traction by rollers and vice versa can often involve irregularities (such as implusive stresses and/or excessive wear of certain mechanical members of the system) and a lessening in running comfort for the passengers precisely at a delicate stage when some of them are preparing to get off or have just gotten on.